1. IBM Systems and Technology Retail
Smarter analytics on IBM POWER7
servers for retail
Improving the shopping experience through better insights

2. 2 Smarter analytics on IBM POWER7 servers for retail
Highlights Knowing store sales by SKU and a customer’s name, address and
● Collect and analyze information from all channels and their last purchase isn’t good enough anymore. Smarter retail
touchpoints for complete view of customers and business organizations are seeking answers to much tougher questions:
performance
● Make faster, better business decisions to support targeted ● Who are my most profitable customers?
marketing, tailored assortments and personalized shopping to ● Who are my least profitable customers?
help drive profitable growth ● What channels do they prefer?
● Take advantage of fit-for purpose platforms that are optimized ● What is the best way to communicate with and market
for the complex analytics needed to improve performance, to customers?
identify customer behavior patterns and predict demand ● What new trends are emerging?
● Improve performance management and develop critical ● Where are my product lines contributing to income
insights using business analytics software from IBM and profit?
● Where are my most profitable stores and channels?
Today’s retailers are challenged with serving customers who seek ● When is the best time to introduce promotions or
a personalized experience—no matter where or how they choose reduce prices?
to shop. Improved analytics tools can help gather and analyze ● How successful are my marketing campaigns?
information gained from every shopping channel to derive ● How will clients react to my new product branding?
valuable insights to help retailers deliver on their customers’
expectations. With these insights, you can understand your IBM POWER7
customers more completely, learn from customer behavior, POWER7 systems are versatile platforms that deliver a new
predict future demand and take action early. This is a fundamen- level of value and economic benefit by driving a higher level of
tal transformation in the retail industry that helps you deliver integration and innovation from the chip in addition to virtual-
a superior shopping experience that may lead to more sales, ization capabilities in the operating system, middleware
higher margins and improved customer loyalty. and energy management. These systems represent a huge
improvement in performance and energy efficiency, but more
Retail industry leaders are getting smarter about the way they importantly, they deliver unprecedented workload-optimized
interact with their customers across all channels—from in performance across transactional databases, speed web through-
the store, online, using mobile devices, through the call put and deliver analytics with leadership performance per core,
center and even in social media settings. Smarter analytics system scalability and performance per watt.
on IBM® POWER7® servers for retail is designed to collect
and analyze information about shoppers to drive better POWER7 servers provide the infrastructure foundation
business decisions. This information can be used to improve for the IBM Smart Analytics System, IBM Cognos® and
the customer’s shopping experience and boost business IBM SPSS® business analytics software so you can take full
performance as well as tailor assortments and collaborate advantage of the complete customer and business performance
with suppliers to deliver the right merchandise at the right analytics capabilities of these systems. POWER7 servers provide
time and place—for the right price. high-performance at reduced costs enabling retailers to do more
with fewer resources and speed time to deployment of projects.
Designed to support data analysis, POWER7 is the key infra-
structure component that helps you understand your customers
more completely and improve the shopping experience.

3. IBM Systems and Technology 3
POWER7 servers can help: increase return on investment (ROI) with a faster time-to-value.
This integrated, high-performance analytics solution is
● Reduce costs and improve asset utilization through supported by POWER7 servers and designed to accelerate the
consolidation and virtualization of under-utilized servers. delivery of insights for faster, smarter decision making. Smart
● Improve infrastructure resilience and deliver the reliability, Analytics System offerings on IBM Power Systems™ provide
availability and serviceability needed for secure, consistent maximum flexibility and are pre-integrated and optimized before
and reliable interactions. being delivered to you for quick implementation with rapid
● Provide integrated service management features to automate delivery of value. The Smart Analytics System is a turnkey
repetitive tasks, accelerating time to value and minimizing analytics solution that delivers leading business intelligence capa-
the possibility of human error. bilities with cost-efficient, flexible design, and mission-critical
reliability. Because it is a pre-packaged appliance, the system can
IBM Smart Analytics System be business ready in days, not months. This scalable system:
Maximizing the business value of your data requires a flexible,
centralized environment that helps you deliver business ● Is built on a foundation of IBM data warehouse management
information across your enterprise. The Smart Analytics System software, storage solutions and the Power Systems platform.
provides a foundation for improved analytics that is built on a ● Offers a breadth of business analytics capabilities including
world-class database and hardware platform to help you make reporting, analysis, scorecards, dashboards and alerts as well as
the most of your data. With the Smart Analytics System you predictive analytics.
can generate the insights you need to work smarter in today’s ● Provides pre-integrated hardware and software modules that
challenging, fast-paced retail industry by putting the right can be added to your existing infrastructure for unmatched
information in the hands of your decision-makers. With the scalability and flexibility.
Smart Analytics System, you can:
Business analytics software from IBM
● Collect data from many sources in real-time to generate more To stay ahead in a competitive marketplace, you need to spot
accurate insights based on the most up-to-date information. trends, better understand your customers and make informed
● Conduct analysis more frequently so you can be more agile decisions quickly. Through improved analytics, retailers gain
when creating or changing your go-to-market strategies. access to reliable, timely information that can be used to under-
● Make better, faster decisions using an interactive, self-service stand chain-wide performance as well as customer shopping
environment for analyzing customer information across preferences. This allows retailers to build targeted marketing
channels. campaigns and tailor assortments at the store level—and even
● Measure and monitor financial and operational business for individual shoppers—to create a substantial competitive
performance, analyze results, predict outcomes and plan advantage. Cognos and SPSS software provide an enterprise
for better business results. platform for customer analytics and performance management
● Uncover new business opportunities and gain new insights to that integrates and leverages information from all channels to
help maximize product profitability, minimize customer churn, help you:
detect fraud and increase campaign effectiveness.
● Identify, report on and analyze performance, trends,
The Smart Analytics System is designed to improve retailers’ profitability, buying patterns, preferences and behavior.
ability to unlock insights hidden within their company’s data,
helping them drive revenue growth, improve performance and

4. ● Use predictive modeling and advanced analytics to understand
product affinities so you can determine the best products to
stock and which to promote to targeted customers.
● Model scenarios and develop merchandising, store operations
and marketing plans that improve the shopping experience and
drive profitable growth. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011
IBM Systems and Technology Group
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IBM is investing heavily to accelerate analytics and our Business
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November 2011
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● We have opened eight Analytics Solutions Centers to resolve
marks of others.
business analytics challenges across a wide range of industries.
● Established two Global Industry Solutions Centers—in
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La Gaude, France and Dallas, Texas—to give retailers a
holistic view of the IBM solutions for their industry,
including live, customized analytics scenarios.
For more information
To learn more about smarter analytics on IBM POWER7
servers for retail, please contact your IBM representative or
IBM Business Partner, or visit: ibm.com/power
Additionally, IBM Global Financing can help you acquire the IT
solutions that your business needs in the most cost-effective and
strategic way possible. We’ll partner with credit qualified clients
to customize an IT financing solution to suit your business goals,
enable effective cash management, and improve your total cost
of ownership. IBM Global Financing is your smartest choice to
fund critical IT investments and propel your business forward.
For more information, visit: ibm.com/financing
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